They said it’s not going to happen. But, the world witnessed how swiftly the Taliban removed President Ashraf Ghani and his government from power. It took them just ten days to establish themselves on the throne of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The President fled ahead of the new regime, along with the sneak-away of the Big Brother, the United States. The current situation is that the Afghan civilians are in peril, with the Taliban enjoying in an amusement park after showing “valor” and the superpowers acting like a cat on a hot tin roof. No matter how grave the state of affairs is, the global governments seem to have split into two troupes, with this kind of situation putting in the picture how selfish every nation is who claims to be the superpower.
To be conscious of what has happened recently in the nation hurled in wars for more than four decades, one needs to understand one of the major culprits, the Taliban or the ‘Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’ (At least, this is what they refer themselves with). Led by Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada since 2016, the military group and Deobandi Islamist movement Taliban was waiting for the perfect time of its revival after anguish defeat in the NATO invasion of 2001. No one knows what came to the US President Joe Biden’s mind that he decided to pull back the troops serving for about 20 years in the terror-stricken Afghanistan. Although it drew up criticism from many countries, Biden still seemed to defend his decision in a recent press release.
For 20 years in Afghanistan, the US spent trillions of dollars in war against the Taliban, aimed at helping establish and maintain a democratic government after throwing the latter out of power in 2001. But, this yielded nothing on the ground and, backing the worst, cost about 100,000 lives among military, militants, and innocent civilians instead. The US was constructing plans to withdraw the troops from the country for a decade, and then-President Barack Obama expected it to be completed by 2016 until the alleged corruption in Afghanistan’s administration and the lack of a competent local military made them revise the plans. The American public was also not in favor of the further involvement of the US troops in Afghanistan after the defeat of the Al-Qaeda terrorist group with the death of Osama Bin Laden in 2011.
Whatsoever the reason was, US officials finally withdrew the army with the hope that the Afghanistan military was now enough trained to defend themselves and the nation, neglecting the view that the Taliban was also not sitting idle in the past 20 years. Thus when the moment arrived, and the American military packed their backpacks, the Taliban took note of it and embarked on the conquest. With many factors, including the corrupt administration, lack of motivation and nationalism in the military, and absence of any public revolts against the terrorist group, the Taliban possessed control over Kabul in just ten days despite having only 70,000 militants compared to the Afghan military of 300,000 soldiers.
With everyone in the “surrender mode” and President Ashraf Ghani fleeing to Oman with chopper and cars full of cash as per Russian claim, the Taliban eventually quenched their thirst for domination by unfurling their flag at the invaded Presidential Palace after continuously battling and succeeding since May 1st, 2021. After conquering Afghanistan, the Taliban is constantly trying to improve its international image by claiming to protect foreign embassies and diplomats, grant independence to media and reporters, and include women’s involvement in politics and government. Despite all the reassurance, no country is in the state to recognize an assassin regime, except for some alleged nations like Pakistan, China, Russia, and now Turkey, who show signs of going against the global mindset against terrorism.
In recent days, we’re seeing reports of how desperate Afghan citizens are to leave their homeland due to the Taliban’s oppression and the decision to establish the controversial Shariya law in the country. The grave concern is of the human rights in the region, especially of the women and children, as they are the most vulnerable under the Taliban rule. Many meetings are taking place in and across borders on the issues of concern amid the evacuation of their citizens by countries like the US, Germany, India, Spain, Britain, and surprisingly Pakistan. With the world in “wait and watch” mode, there’s an urgent need to take steps to corroborate peace and safety for the innocent public of Afghanistan.
